Industry News

MSA Safety, DuPont, and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) are helping volunteer fire departments obtain much-needed gear through MSA’s and DuPont’s Globe Gear Giveaway. In 2020, 13 departments will each receive four new sets of turnout gear and four new helmets to help enhance the safety of their firefighters. The first 500 applicants also received a one-year NVFC membership, courtesy of MSA. The latest recipients of MSA’s and DuPont’s Globe Gear Giveaway are th...

CU First Responders Finance (CUFR) is excited to welcome Albany Firemen’s Federal Credit Union (AFFCU) to their Referral Credit Union program. AFFCU is looking forward to offering business loan services to their membership. CUFR’s business lending program CUFR’s business lending program provides the avenue for first responder credit unions to refer commercial real estate, apparatus, equipment, and other business loans for potential funding. The referring credit union gets bu...

The letters ‘FR’ have many meanings, including flame resistant, flame retardant, fire resistant and fire retardant, but is there a difference? And which FR is the right FR for a particular firefighters and rescue team? The truth is, these terms are used interchangeably and there is no clear standard or definition that backs up any of these phrases. What matters when looking to choose the right FR protection for the team is understanding and specifying garments that meet the right FR...

Eunomia has convened a consortium to explore the costs of, and potential measures to prevent, fires which are being started by Lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries in waste. Fires in waste electronics are estimated to be growing: the incidence of fires in waste company Veolia’s refuse trucks are up 37.5% since 2017, and these are thought to have been caused by Li-ion batteries. Major cause of waste fires Li-ion batteries are found in a variety of consumer IT and electronics products and are o...

Retention has long been a challenge for many volunteer and combination fire and EMS departments, yet little research has been done on the subject. volunteer fire service retention Thanks to support from a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has conducted a study to identify institutional drivers that cause volunteers to leave, the differing perceptions between leadership, current volunteers and former volunteers and what c...

DripDrop ORS (DripDrop Hydration), a globally renowned rehydration therapy company, announced partnering with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) to provide the nation’s volunteer firefighters with dehydration relief. DripDrop Oral Rehydration Solution The company pledged to donate 100,000 sticks of DripDrop Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) this summer to assist volunteer firefighters during extreme heat, wildfire season, and the COVID-19 pandemic. When this donation was met within...

BAFSA, the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association Ltd is delighted to report that the London Assembly has launched a powerful and comprehensive report calling for the mandatory installation sprinklers in all new homes in England. London Assembly Report In the opening statement of this proposal, Navin Shah, Chair of the London Assembly, stated “We pay our respects to all those who have died in fires in their place of residency and those who’ve been affected. Our thoughts are p...

Standards for products and services are at the heart of success of the fire safety industry. Euralarm’s members need a fast and flexible standards-setting system because it is not only the best way to serve the interests of customers, the industry and society but also is a basic requirement for a safe and secure society. The company’s standardization system helps them to continue to deliver the highest levels of safety and security to citizens. However, for the competitiveness of th...

In October 1993, the American Heart Association appointed the Task Force on Automatic External Defibrillation. The task force was charged with conducting a conference on automatic external defibrillation, evaluating research needed for broader community use of automatic external defibrillators, and overseeing evaluation of the feasibility and desirability of their use by healthcare professionals and the lay public. In December 1994, a conference on public access defibrillation was held in Washi...

The following information is reprinted from an April 1995 brochure published by the National Swimming Pool Foundation in cooperation with the National Spa and Pool Institute and the National Safety Council. Think Ahead Once the diver starts their dive, they don’t have time to think. Know the depth of the water. Plan the dive path. Never dive where they don’t know the water depth or where there may be hidden obstructions. Steer Up When the diver dive down, they must be rea...

The Standard of Care in Lifeguarding law requires lifeguards to act or behave toward other individuals in a certain, definable way, and, under given circumstances, the lifeguard has a duty to act or refrain from acting. Generally speaking, the lifeguard must be concerned about the safety and welfare of other individuals when his or her behavior or activities have the potential for causing others injury or harm. The manner in which a lifeguard is expected to act or behave is referred to as the &l...

Because of the major health concerns today, there is a major reluctance among emergency service personnel to perform direct mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing on an unknown victim. When confronted with a resuscitation emergency, response personnel do not always have the luxury of using a resuscitation unit, which would be carried on a fire engine or in a police car. Even if the equipment is available, they can’t always wait to obtain the equipment before resuscitation efforts are begun. The...